all
right, but the boys are sure to name you over so we may as well do it
now. Let's ask Chick-chick. He's good at names."

"What's his real name?" asked Glen.

"His real name is Henry Henry. His father liked Henry so well for a
surname that he had him christened Henry, too. We began by calling him
Hen Hen, but that didn't go very well so we call him Chick-chick."

"I don't mind s'long as y' don't call me Biddy chick," explained
Chick-chick, who had just come up. "Now what kind o' Mason are
you--Stonemason, Brickmason or Mason Fruit Jar."

"Brick's the best," declared Apple. "Matches his hair, too. Let's call
him Brick."

"Right it is. Brick for Mason. Where ye goin' to find treasure?"

"You can come along, Chick. We're going to look for signs of
water-courses running into the Hollow."

"I won't come, then. I'm going with Goosey to look for a heap rock.
We're after gold, we are."

All the morning the two boys explored the Hollow. Many times they traced
deceptive depressions in the earth's surface which gave some intimation
of having served at some time as a waterway, but never was there any
reward for their efforts. At noon, hot and dusty, they made their way
back to the camp. A great group of excited boys stood there
gesticulating and shouting, and in the center of the group stood Matt
Burton.

"What's the excitement?" asked Apple of the first boy they reached.

"Excitement isn't the word," he replied. "Matt Burton has found the
treasure!"

CHAPTER VIII

MATT BURTON'S TREASURE FIND

When they heard the remarkable news that Matt Burton had discovered the
treasure the curiosity of the two boys was beyond measure. They were
pushing their way eagerly toward the group to get the full news when a
running noose dropped from the overhanging limb of a great tree and
neatly entwined them. Their progress was checked.

"That's Chick-chick," said Apple, without looking up. "He's always
playing some kind of a trick. Let go your hold of that rope,
Chick-chick."

The joker dropped down from the branch almost on top of them.

"I was just fixing a swing when ye came 'long," he explained, in his
jerky fashion. "Too good a chance to miss, it was, and worked fine, it
did. Don't be in a hurry."

"You loosen this rope and let us go. We want to get the news."

"'Tain't s' important as you think. Gives the Great an' Only Matty a
chance t' spread himself. Come on to dinner; you'll hear all 'bout it."

Dinner wa